Red Guadalupana: July 2010

Wrong place, wrong time

Sometimes we do things we're not proud of. He was, after all, just in the wrong place at the wrong time and if he had been the kind of cuddly creature that inspired the "awwww" factor instead of the "eeeek!" response, he'd have been treated a lot more gently. We might have even kept him as a pet.

Fuzzy he was, at least the fat, round derriére. Not as hairy as some of his cousins, but enough for us to definitely identify him as a member of the dreaded Theraphosidae family. He somehow cornered himself, only a foot away from the Capt's chair, this morning and sat there for quite a while, hoping he was invisible. But he wasn't.

"Get rid of him!" I cried, doing my Lady MacBeth impression. And so the Capt zapped him with a bit of bug spray, enough to stun him, then trapped him on top of a file folder, beneath a coffee cup. A brave man, my Capt. He carried the beast outside, left him in the brush at the fringe of the golf course. He was still moving — in fact he covered quite a lot of ground before we lost sight of him. I wished him well, hoped he'd recover from his poisoning and hereafter, remember to stay out of houses.

We Must All Be Criminals

Open your mind as you read the following:

It's 4:00 a.m.
You wake up and start preparing for the day
Lovingly you get the coffee going
Start preparing some breakfast for the kids
Make written and mental "to do" lists for the day
Find the clothes you want to wear
Plan on catching up on paying the bills
Wonder where the money will come from to pay the rent
Stops by the local church to pray to the Lord
To ask Him for a little help
Spend the last few dollars you had on generic brand foods
And still turn out some totally awesome and tasty meals
Walk to work because you can't get a licence to drive
And while walking always looking out over your shoulder
For on one side, the hood is not the safest place to walk
And you can be jumped at any given time
On the other side you are living here illegally
And you are now a criminal
No you don't deal with drugs
No you don't steal a thing
No car means no driving violations
And all you do is honest work
Because that's how it needs to be
Your kids here depend on you
As do your parents there
The worries and the stress you feel
Will really have to wait
Is today the day you will get caught
What will your family's fate be
Should you be caught and hand cuffed today
With that strong white plastic strip
And become a resident in "tent city" (jail)
And all because You're living here.

I was watching the news with my mom last night and they were talking about the new law here in Phoenix and the only image they showed was that of a Hispanic woman in her early 30's having her hands strapped with one of those plastic straps while facing a police cruiser. I am sure her fate is that of many that get caught as she will probably now be deported back to Mexico. I couldn't help but think of the "What now" what will happen to her husband, her kids, her friends, her life.

I keep hearing "What part of illegal don't you understand?" If you live here illegally you are a criminal and deserve everything the law throws at you. So I must wonder, where are the laws of humanity, the laws of decency, the laws of helping each other, the laws for caring for one another.

Is your mind still open as you read this.

Then I want you to think that the woman in the news was you.

Image borrowed from:
The Internet.

Wow, I just posted and this just came in:

Developing Story:
Phoenix -- July 28, 2010

Judge blocks controversial parts of Arizona’s Immigration law.
PHOENIX – A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown.

There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens under the new (law)," Bolton ruled. "By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose a 'distinct, unusual and extraordinary' burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose."

JACQUES BILLEAUD and AMANDA MYERS, Associated Press Writers Jacques Billeaud And Amanda Myers, Associated Press Writers –

Read Complete article by clicking HERE.

Tidbits

So in an attempt to suck money out of our pockets the State of Arizona installed the speed cameras all over our freeways but apparently as of July 15 the cameras are no more. It's kinda erie now to see them still standing like a bunch of "Johnny 5s". There are three sets of these cameras on my way to work and I still slow down to 65 mph and I still expect to see that red light flash. The more I see machines run our lives the more I think about that movie with Stallone and Sandra Bullock "Demolition Man". LOL Every time I passed by these cameras I think I violated the Verbal Morality Statue and I was stripped of many, many credits.

Well, for better of for worse I rather see a real officer patrolling the highways, I truly go against any machine that will eliminate the actual work of more than one person.

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I've been waiting for a great kick butt kinda movie like the ones from the 80's and 90's. Remember, Demolition Man, Predator, Daylight, Assassins, The Specialist, Tango and Cash, Universal Soldier, The Punisher, Army of One, Harley Davidson and The Marlboro man, and the list goes on and on. Well here comes a reprise of what once was, even tho they are all past their prime this movie promises to deliver lots of good old fashion action, I for one hope it's cheese enough to be worth making it into my collection. Can't wait til it comes out.

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So it's Monday once again, the weeks just continue to fly by and swoosh over my head a little too fast for my taste but what can I do. While many people don't seem to like Mondays I for one really enjoy them. Then the next three days just kind of come and go and and then before we know it another weekend is upon us. Somehow when you are young that is actually the way to go, but at my age I just wish to slow time a little bit, no need for speed, slow time down and enjoy each day for its uniqueness, take the good with the bad, and do your best, then when the weekend comes again it will be that much more rewarding and enjoyable. It's like work hard during the week to earn your weekend. Nawwww! Just bring it on again.

Digame*, Ricardo

Mexican summers lull me into a perpetual siesta, augmented with lots of reading. My brain is a finely tuned, ~~somewhat obsolete~~ computer that must be kept in a climate-controlled environment or it goes into sleep mode, leaving me semi-comatose (and bored). Now summer's half-gone, and I've made almost no progress on my big goal: to improve my Spanish. I missed out on an intensive (and cheap!) course at Colegio Americano that took place while we were away on the boat.

With no teacher to demand my best performance, I have to nag myself into making progress. However, I have resources. Yesterday I started working with flash cards on SpanishDict, a website that has emailed me a word-a-day for months. Mexico Bob swears by flash cards and set up his own Cornflake System, but SpanishDict's flashcard system goes a step further with its Listen feature. A deep, mellow voice pronounces each word, complete with accents in the right place, running the vowels together like a regular native-born Spanish speaker. (Of course, Bob has Gina to do that for him.)

I've named the voice Ricardo, after the actor Ricardo Montalban.

Comprehension is my greatest downfall, due to those run-together vowels. I could ask people to please write down what they're saying, but such inconvenience would be a real conversation-killer. These flashcards include a Recall level that requires me to type in the correct word when Ricardo says it, complete with accents. With a push of a button I can hear it as many times as I need to. I was scoring pretty high before I got to Recall, but I had to do the office supply topic over three times before I scored 100%.

The flashcards are organized by topic, such as days of the week, food items and colors at the easy level, to office supplies (medium level) on up to parts of the body at the hard level (this includes everything from hair follicles and eyelids to knees and belly button!) I can print the cards out, too.

There's a Recognition level that shows a Spanish word and multiple-choice translations in English, timed so you have to stay on your toes.

My favorite flashcards cover common expressions such as, "Me saca del quicio." El quicio is literally a door hinge, so I'm assuming the rough translation is, "It makes me unhinged (or crazy)."

If I'm feeling competitive and take the time to log in, the website will keep track of my results and list them along with other students on a Leaderboard, ranked by score.

One thing I really like is that each verb comes with its article, so you learn right away whether it's masculine or feminine.

The site also a has complete Spanish/English dictionary, which is handy to keep open when I'm reading Mexican newspapers such as Expreso. And beyond individual words, you can translate an entire phrase.

Did I mention that SpanishDict is free?

*Digame = "tell me."

Grand Kids

My family life continues to be very active, this blog has been mostly an account of our family life, our celebrations, our activities, vacations, etc. etc. We continue to be very active and the celebrations just keep piling up. We have so many that now we kindda have to pick and choose, otherwise it is just too exhausting.

Last Sunday after mass my son and daughter in law invited us to their house for a "just because" reunion. It was like bring a dish let's have a pot luck. So lots of us showed up and had a really good time. While I ate and ate, the kids were out swimming and playing on the play station.

Food, swimming, and games! If you ask me that is just a recipe for a good time. All my grand kids were there so since I always carry my camera with me I decided to make ME the center of attention and hire anyone around me to capture some pretty cool images.

I am lucky and blessed to be able to have all my kids and grand kids at the same place and the same time on any given moment. It kills me to read how so many of you out there only get to see yours once or twice a year.

So, anyway I just thought I share some of these images.

This is me with Brianna, my first grandkid. Not the oldest but the first.

This is me with Talyanna, my oldest grandchild.

And this is the self titled "La Princesa" Alayna. Alayna is my #5 grand child.

""From a little girl so very small, how and when did you get so tall?"" --- ~Karen Mortensen

Surrounded with love.

"Do you know why children are so full of energy? Because they suck it out of their grandparents" --
~ Gene Perret

My mom with Laila, the youngest of my grand kids.

This is my son and my #8 grandson Ramon. I know he doesn't look like a Ramon but he is. lol

This is Juanito, my #6 grand kid.

"Grandparents are there to help the child get into mischief they haven't thought of yet."
~ Gene Perret

Grandkids.

Atali.

Laila.

Me and my "duck".

Alayna, me, and Arielle.
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Bees and jetskis, grottos and dolphins

Home at last, and I couldn't be happier to walk in the door, flick on the minisplit air conditioners and stand under the shower without worrying about using up a meager tankful of water. I was so contented even the three scorpions in my kitchen couldn't ruffle my feathers.

The crossing over the Sea of Cortez was for the most part a train ride, with no wind, flat seas and a steadily rumbling diesel that never let us down. Of course, that meant also the inescapable smell of diesel in the cabin, which brought on a low-level queasiness and discomfort that I could only escape by sitting out on the foredeck in the hot sun. But I just kept swabbing myself with fresh water and Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap, and reminding myself I'd be home soon.

After almost three weeks of travel we were ready to get back, so we didn't "gunkhole" up the Baja coast as we'd originally planned, taking five or six days to visit spots I hadn't seen before, but only made three stops after leaving La Paz: Isla San Francisco (just off the tip of Isla San Jose), Puerto Los Gatos and Agua Verde, both on the Baja mainland. All offered very easy dinghy landings with no waves so the four-legged crewmembers got to go ashore every day. They could hardly wait to get off the boat.

Since it was a weekend, San Francisco was swarming with big motor yachts loaded with families and their water toys: kayaks, inflatable floaters of various descriptions and one jetski...um, personal watercraft that wound its noisy way around the little bay like an angry hornet. "What if we all had one of those?" I muttered. "What would this place be like then?" What I liked was the rocks along the shore that looked like pillars of ancient ruins carved out of peach-colored sandstone.

Next stop was Puerto Los Gatos (Port of the Cats) with its characteristic colorful stratified rocks. My camera didn't do justice to all the colors — peach, green (copper), cinnamon, dark red, pearly beige. I also spotted another feature that always intrigues me: little grottos along the water's edge. But late in the afternoon after our siesta we found dozens of bees in the galley, attracted to our fresh water. Using mosquito coils we drove them out, then put up our screens, and that was the end of our time outside. It was a siege that lasted until after dark.

A short hop further up the coast we landed at Agua Verde (green water), one of the anchorages I'd never visited and always heard about. It's aptly named, with its agua as verde as it gets in Baja! But when we went ashore we found beetles of some kind that bit our ankles and drove us back to the boat. The yachters' guidebooks don't mention these pests, so perhaps it's a seasonal thing.

We had talked of going on to Escondido for ice and to top off our water tanks, but decided neither was important enough to delay the 24-hour run across the Sea of Cortez and home. I think the boat was starting to close in on us a bit. So early Monday morning we set out for the overnight crossing. With no breezes, the temps soared and we were only able to keep our cool by training our 12-volt fans on ourselves and keeping our movements slow and minimal, like a couple of oceangoing sloths. I managed to get all the way through Wilbur Smith's "Men of Men," part of the Ballantyne series about Africa in the Victorian era.

At sunset we sat on the foredeck and I marveled at the colors of the sky and the sea and tried to capture them with my camera. To our left where the sun was setting, the water and the sky was gilded with breathtaking gold and pale pink, and to our right it was all blues and lavenders and silver grays. We watched for the green flash, but a haze along the horizon may have obscured it from our view.

The most exciting event was when a superpod of dolphins passed us, stretching out for miles, and several came to take a ride on our bow wave. I've been trying for years to photograph them and only succeeded in getting gray dolphin-shaped blurs, but this time I found the right setting and was thrilled with the results! Thanks, Sue, for the tip.

Tidbits Time

And it comes faster than I expect it. It's like today is Monday and all I hear about is how everyone is so mad, and how much they hate Monday, and then I blink my eyes and it's Saturday again. That just leaves me wondering, "What happened to Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday?" But no matter, if it's Saturday might as well enjoy it. That's why the plan for tonight is to finally go watch Toy Story 3. All I keep hearing is how good that movie is.

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Borrowed this from the Interne. That is my idea of an awesome ice chest.
I would like to thank yesterday's monsoon for messing up my car. The light coat of dust you left all over it is trying to make a permanent home there, but it's not taking any new tenants, so no thank you you will soon be evicted. If it wasn't cause right now it's too hot to be out there washing cars you would already be gone. Well, it's only about 109 degrees today, but it really feels like if it was more. I love these hot summer days, what I don't love is how my electricity bill jumped from $85.00 a month to $333.06, and probably more next month. Not happy, not happy at all.

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I am happy to report that I feel the very and exact opposite way. lol I love
everything.

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Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear princesa
Happy birthday to you

And may more

Yes my princesa turned Five years old today and she was pretty happy about it. She knows her fiesta will be next week, so she is cool with that. In the meantime she patiently awaits.

My favorite things in La Paz

La Paz has improved a lot over the 13 years since I first came here, and today it's considerably cleaner, more attractive, safer and has more to offer. Of course, arrival of the cruise ships was a motivating factor, but I do like what they've done with the place, especially...

...the Malecon. Storms had torn up the tiles and walking here was risky 13 years ago. The whole walkway has been redone, a 100% improvement

Mermaid and Dolphin, one of several beautiful sculptures along the Malecon

My favorite La Paz Malecon sculpture is this old sea dreamer

Photos of trashcans? Well, yes...these are ranged all along the Malecon, and I admire them because they encourage kids to dispose of their litter. And separate trash, too, by organic and inorganic. Don't know if anybody actually does it, but it's a good idea anyway.

Shady streets! Not all of them boast these beautiful mature shade trees, of course, but I applaud whoever made the decision to let them thrive.

The Municipal Pier where cruise ship passengers first leave the boat is beautifully landscaped and welcoming.

Take a stroll down the Municipal Pier, and you can see all the lights of the waterfront reflected in the water. Qué romantica!

The entrance to the city dock, where the cruise ships land, bears the legend "La Paz, Port of Illusion."

La Paz has a fine, albeit small, mercado, much better for produce than the big stores. It's obvious the vendors take pride in their displays and their merchandise. Prices were better, too!

Tomorrow we sail north, having already delayed our departure two days because we like it here so much. I won't have Internet access for a few days. We'll be stopping here and there along the Baja coast. I'll try to get more photos as we go, and post them when we get home.

Mustang an Iconic Car.

My baby!
My 1993. Fox boddied Mustang.
Well it was bound to happen, this thing was just there waiting for me and it seemed nobody else would dare touch it cause it was to be mine. So, at least for now I already enjoyed it for a day, I am turning in some more paperwork today, etc, etc, and hopefully this baby will finally be mine, mine, all mine. It certainly makes a great addition to my stable, two ponies and a Bronco. Now if only the Bronco would work. lol

My son keeps asking himself where he went wrong because I continue to buy Fords instead of his beloved Chevys but come on, a Mustang is like apple pie, is an icon that comes second to none. There are Camaros, and Corvettes, but then there are the iconic Mustangs and there are in a league all its own.

So, cross your fingers everybody and lets hope I don't have to return those keys tonight.

Here are some great looking ponies.